[Still Wet]

so the decision has been made. taking down the 90g and 75g in order to put up the 150g. so with that being said i need to sell my niger trigger. make offers please. my plan is to put the contents of the 75 and 90 into the 150 and still have room to add alot of new stuff. i will be looking for advice. this will be my biggest tank yet. they only get bigger from here. the wife rolled her eyes and hit me. i think it is funny. first off what will be the best pump for me? i will have a 75g sump for this tank. many more ? to come. thanks in advance
carl

 

[firsthesitation]

NICE! Sweet deal Carl!

Want to do an internal or external pump? Kinda funny when you think about things for a bigger tank, my brain goes right to skimmers and lighting...never really considered the return pump.

 

[Still Wet]

went to the pump first cuz i want to get water in and cycling. i have a top fathom 500 skimmer that i need to fix so not to worried about that yet. lighting is a bridge i will cross when i get that far. it is in the back of my head already but not a first. not sure on in or out but it has to be good with 6'-8' of head as the sump will be in the basement.

 

[firsthesitation]

Sounds like you'd be better off with an external pump, I think you'll see a greater lifespan at that kinda head. Gen-x, Iwaki, Little Giant, OR a Red Dragon! Maybe you can have Zach help you drill your 75, I hear he's becoming somewhat of a pro at it.

 

[Timmy]

Maybe you can have Zach help you drill your 75, I hear he's becoming somewhat of a pro at it. [/quote]

Sorry Zach but that is funny!

 

[condiman]

Congrats there carl its something else when a person gets into the 100+ gallon range. As for external pumps I like little giant they are very reliable. The Red Dragons are another good choice but they are pricy.

 

[OLDETOWNENORTHPETS]

I wouldnt let Zach within 10 ft of one of my tanks with a Drill, they boy is dangerous:freak: and HATES ten gallon tanks.:rotflmao:

 

[carym]

Yeah make sure you have at least a couple of backup tanks if your going to have Zach drill them.... sorry zach couldn't resist...you know what I what I said was my biggest concern with your plan....breaking tanks...

 

[carym]

Oh and by the way congrats Carl you will enjoy it...

 

[Jrmass]

Actually... I did a LOT of research and found that Dolphins were about as good as they came for pushing water upwards w/ little to no loss in gph for the buck... My pump is a Dolphin 3600SP (3600 gph max) and at 15' of head it will still push around 2800 gph) aka it doesn't lose much... Heck it has a top end of 45' (pushes around 200 gph at that height though). I bought mine from Ebay a while back (think they wanted around $300 for it but they had a auction and got it shipped for around $180 which is VERY VERY reasonable for a pump of this size).

Jason

 

[Kyuss]

yeah the dolphins are great! I am a big fan of Iwakis, they run FOREVER. However after getting my reeflo dart I have a new favorite pump. The Darts are awesome! I just saw one on RC for $100 used. I am going to buy one to replace my Iwaki. So **** quiet, and low heat/wattage at 3600 gph. max head of only 12' so it may or may not be good for your setup.

 

[Still Wet]

so i was looking into pumps and wow my math is rusty. what kinda turn over rate should i be looking for with about 200g of total volume?

 

[hansmatt]

I hear good things about the dolphins, the darts, and of course the iwakis are all great and run forever...for externals. The biggest problem with buying them used is you end up paying $30 or more for shipping. Get one locally if you can and save the $ I run eheim internals and they are fantastic if you go internal route...quiet, low power, low heat, easy to replace parts.

 

[Jrmass]

I hear good things about the dolphins, the darts, and of course the iwakis are all great and run forever...for externals. The biggest problem with buying them used is you end up paying $30 or more for shipping. Get one locally if you can and save the $ I run eheim internals and they are fantastic if you go internal route...quiet, low power, low heat, easy to replace parts.

Might be hard to get an internal one to go from his basement to the main level though and not lose an incredible amt of actual GPH flow due to head loss. There is a reason that I went with an external pump and it wasn't for the heat reasons... It was because it's hard to find a submersible pump that is going to give you the turnover rate that you are going to need at a fairly substatial height (minimum 10-12' I bet).

Jason

 

[hansmatt]

oops...missed the basement thing...my bad
so...Dolphin, Iwaki, Dart...all good choices, especially if you can find a used one!

 

[Jrmass]

oops...missed the basement thing...my bad
so...Dolphin, Iwaki, Dart...all good choices, especially if you can find a used one!

yeah... there are some submersible options but, typically they cost just as much if not more than an external... I'd be curious how efficient one that big would be though... It'd be an interesting experiement to test on a Kill-a-watt.

 

[hansmatt]

I've got a kill-a-watt meter if anyone would like to check it out from ...I mean rent it...from me

 

[carym]

only if I can rent a lux meter from you as well...lol

 

[Still Wet]

i think 10' max more like 8' of head so in that range. what about gph what range does everybody think would be best? dont want to go to small. dont even want to be just enough. i want more than needed just in case i go bigger in the future. i mean when i go bigger....

 

[quader94]

i think you should get a little giant pump for the long term. i've have the same little giant pump ( an external one) for over 10 years running non stop. never had had a problem with it once.